“Just confirming our meet.” Leanna said into the red phone receiver.
She stood on a street corner in an upscale part of Wolf City, wearing a skinny black dress and equally black high heels. She clutched a small green purse close to her prominent bosom as she ran her slender fingers through her lengthy temporarily-dyed blonde hair. The shape of her face had been changed with a cosmetic putty to further avoid her being recognized as a member of RED-1.
“We’re still on. Same place, same time.” A distorted masculine voice said over the phone.
Soon after, the line clicked and went dead.
“How abrupt…in any case, it’s a go.” Leanna said quietly to her nearby invisible friend Prism, who she wasn’t even sure was really there.
Prism floated a few meters away from her, imperceptible. He’d become quite bored with his phantasmal monitoring of Leanna after their first uneventful hour in town, and looked forward to the dinner meeting she had with Goran only an hour away. Jaik was in a building nearby, keeping watch on Leanna in a more traditional way.
Leanna made her way to a nearby park, where she took pictures using a mini-camera that she carried within her purse. She walked about for the next hour doing nothing that would bring much attention to herself. She knew that Goran’s hired thugs were following her discretely, making sure that she wasn’t being watched by the Red Wolves.
Leanna took in the fragrant summer air that blew over the mountains to the east and the through the streets of Wolf City. The rich smell of pine reached her nose and made her smile to herself despite the tense situation she found herself in. The clean and orderly road that she walked along reminded her of the place of her a birth and upbringing, an Etrysian city on the western coast of its neighboring island, Athea. It wasn’t surprising, since her hometown of Douri had been an inspiration for Wolf City during its construction fifty years earlier.
Leanna had grown tired of Etrysia’s stifling society and had moved to the Peninsula in her late teens to study under the Red Wolves. As she sat on a transit bench along the street, she reminisced on her time as a young woman living in Wolf City years ago. She’d thrived at the Red Wolves Academy, much preferring its dialectic style of education to the numerous memorization tests that she’d been subjected to as a child in Douri. She had changed a great deal from even those days, and yet she often wondered if she’d truly escaped the prison of her birth culture.
Many Etrysian expatriates called Wolf City their home, and it had even been founded by an Etrysian. Leanna had always found the city welcoming to her, even while she’d avoided associating primarily with other Etrysian-born people. But her naturally green hair always clued people in to where she came from, and gave them expectations on how she should act. Green hair was a trait of Etrysia’s Xypno gene class, known for their increased intellect and memory.
She couldn’t deny that her life had followed a path that aligned with her mental prowess, having been an analyst and then “Data Girl” to her team. But as she sat on the bench with her dyed blonde hair, she couldn’t help but imagine how differently she’d lived her life if it had always been that color.
“Looks like it’s time.” Leanna said aloud after checking her silver watch, which rested delicately on her right wrist.
She took a quick taxi ride to a rather generic cafe with outdoor wooden tables and chairs. The cafe only had a few patrons, as if the place knew what sort of seedy business was about to occur there. After sitting outside, it didn’t take long for Leanna to see Goran approaching her table with two of his men. It was clear to Leanna that she wasn’t the only one with dyed hair when she saw Goran’s glossy black hair reflect the sunlight a bit too unnaturally. Leanna rose from her seat, smiled, and offered her hand as he walked up to her.
“You must be Reesa. I never expected you to be so stunning.” Goran said while he shook her hand.
Leanna smiled at how easily her deception seemed to be playing out. Fortunately for her, the real traitor had never disclosed any details about their physical appearance to Goran, and had even used a false name.
“Thank you, that’s sweet. I’m happy that we are finally able to meet in person.” Leanna said, turning up the girlishness of her voice and mannerisms.
“Indeed, indeed!” Goran said emphatically. “It’s odd to me, that a city known for taking in human detritus from all over Æba can manage to have such a wonderful district reserved for higher class people like ourselves. I suppose the Red Wolves know something about the order of things.” Goran said with a contemptuous chuckle.
“It certainly is something, isn’t it?” Leanna said agreeably. She fought back the urge to roll her eyes at Goran’s conceit.
“Well, let’s order and then get to business.” Goran said before everyone sat down at the table.
The meeting consisted of a mixture of coded language and flirtation. The four of them barely touched the food and drink that they ordered. Goran flirted with Leanna so shamelessly that Prism almost became sick to his stomach.
Leanna flashed her small datastore containing the fake laserlith schematics to Goran and his men halfway into their meeting. Goran practically salivated over the pearl-sized black sphere that rested in a silver brooch when Leanna withdrew it from her green purse.
“Your methods are quite ingenious, my dear.” Goran said after she put the brooch away, and would not relent in complimenting her on it for several minutes.
When they’d finally ended their discussion about the schematics, Goran and Leanna left their seats. Goran then threw a sizeable Conjunction dollar bill on the table. They walked down the nearby sidewalk with Goran’s bodyguards close behind. The sun was starting to set on the horizon.
“It’s time for that show you promised me, sweetheart.” Goran said while motioning his right hand towards the laserlith nearest to town.
The bluish-black structure towered over every skyscraper within Wolf City as it stood near the Peninsula’s western border. The sunset sky revealed thin red striations on the surface of the laserlith. The striations ran across its surface like circuits on a microchip.
“But of course.” Leanna said sweetly before slowly withdrawing a small bluish-black remote control from her purse.
She outstretched her arm and pointed the remote directly at the pyramidal top of the laserlith. With a wink to Goran, Leanna pressed the largest button on her remote. In the distance, the laserlith suddenly began to emit a red light from its pointed top. A concentrated beam of entangled photons was fired from the laserlith only a second later at a seemingly uninhabited section of rocky mountainside visible on the eastern horizon. The laser blast created a sizeable explosion that showed rock and soil shooting up dozens of meters into the air.
The display captivated Goran and the nearby Prism, though it didn't seem to alarm any of the people within Wolf City. They'd grown used to the sudden and unannounced discharging of the laserliths. To the city's citizens, the laser blasts just meant that any potential threat to their safety was being eliminated.
"Very good. I'm satisfied." Goran said with a nod to Leanna. He was confident in the authenticity of the laserlith schematics that she carried.
Leanna smiled and did a little curtsy before throwing the remote she'd used onto the ground and stomping on it with her right heel, destroying it. She'd told Goran during their meeting that she'd need to immediately destroy the remote to prevent the laserliths from tracking its relative position before they escaped. Remembering her words and taking them very seriously, Goran and his bodyguards motioned to Leanna to quickly make her way to their nearby black sedan. The electric car was at the end of the city block, only a dozen meters away.
Leanna confidently nodded to Goran before leading the way to his vehicle. It only took a minute for the four of them to get into the car and make their way towards Wolf City's executive airport where Goran's private jet awaited. Prism continued to hover close to Leanna, even while the car sped through the maze of city streets and eventually onto the highway. The second phase of their mission was coming about a lot quicker than he'd expected.
Prism worried that Ursun, Srell, and Lorias weren't even in the city yet. Prism hoped that Jaik was aware of what was going on, and could figure out a way to delay Goran for an hour or so. Leanna wasn't worried, as she knew that the firing of the laserlith served to communicate to the Red Wolves exactly what kind of time-table they were working with.
"I hear that your nation is quite lovely during this time of year." Leanna said charmingly to Goran while the two of them sat in the backseat.
"An absolute delight, my dear." Goran lied so blatantly that Leanna had to fight back a chortle.
When they arrived at the executive airport and made their way to its small, fancy boarding building, Leanna and Prism were glad to see that it was under some sort of lockdown. Four wealthy-looking people stood around the service desk that barred the way to the tarmac, where their private aircraft awaited them. Leanna could hear the people arguing with a young man and a young lady who stood behind the service desk.
"This is an outrage! I have an important meeting to attend in a matter of hours in Etrysia!" A rotund man in a gaudy, gold-colored suit shouted to the young female attendant.
"We apologize again for the ongoing inconvenience, sir. The security alert that was issued is to protect your wellbeing. No planes can take flight until it has been lifted." The young lady said politely.
"Yes, you dunce, we get that! But when will this damned security alert be lifted!?" A skinny older lady who was decked out in pearls and an excessive amount of hair adornments yelled.
"We don't have access to that information, I'm afraid. But we will let you know as soon as we get any updates." The young male attendant said brightly and loudly in an attempt to draw their ire away from his coworker.
Leanna saw Goran look quite aghast as they overheard the arguments occurring at the service counter. She knew that he was at the mercy of the system, like the other well-to-do people in the boarding terminal. But she couldn't be sure of what he would do if he truly felt backed into a corner. He was a highly well-connected man, after all. But even he wouldn't risk his plane getting blown out of the sky by a laserlith, Leanna reasoned.
"I'll see if I can get this handled for us." Leanna said to Goran, who immediately looked a bit relieved.
"Accompany the lady. There's no telling what these panicked heathens might do." Goran said to his largest security guard. Leanna winced internally at his continued caution with her.
Goran sat on a leather couch in the center of the room while Leanna and Goran’s bodyguard walked over to the calamitous service desk. When two of the angry travelers saw her, they turned around to speak to her.
"These idiotic workers are keeping us all grounded here for some undetermined amount of time. It’s ridiculous and unacceptable." The older lady with extensive pearl jewelry said to Leanna. The lady seemed to identify Leanna as a fellow woman of means, which tickled Leanna.
"Is that so? I certainly have something to say about that." Leanna said to the lady before approaching the attendants.
"We've had no luck with them, no luck at all!" A middle-aged man in a very expensive black suit lamented to Leanna when she placed her fingers on the edge of the service desk.
"Hello there. I'm Reesa Ritter, here with Goran Tinit. We should have a security exemption. Please confirm it against my employee ID." Leanna said while she took out her specially-made Red Wolves engineer card to show to the attendants.
After inputting her employee ID number into their computer terminal, the attendants looked at each other and promptly exchanged impressed looks. The female attendant smiled brightly and handed Leanna's engineer ID back to her.
"Thank you, Ms. Ritter. You and Mr. Tinit can exit through there. We will have a cart ready to take you to his plane." The attendant said kindly to Leanna while pointing to an area behind and around the service desk.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Thank you very much." Leanna said while putting her ID card back into her green purse.
The other four people who were waiting to board their planes erupted with angry shouts once again after remaining silent during Leanna's exchange with the attendants. They couldn't believe that someone else was getting special treatment. The bodyguard that accompanied Leanna had to push the pearled lady out of Leanna's way after the older lady seemed to lunge at her in an attempt to ask Leanna how she'd gotten flight privileges during the lockdown.
"Well done. You might be just as well-connected as I am." Goran said with a smile when Leanna returned to the center of the room to retrieve him.
"Not for much longer. Let's get out of here." Leanna said softly.
Goran, Leanna, and the two bodyguards walked through the exit behind the service desk to the tarmac, past the two security officers that guarded it. Prism simply passed through the door, still staying close to Leanna and monitoring the events that unfolded around her. A large electric cart that sat eight was only a few meters from the door. The four of them were beckoned into it by a jovial, middle-aged male driver who Leanna and Prism recognized as Jaik in disguise. It took them five minutes to get to Goran's plane. Its shiny gilded exterior beautifully reflected the various lights of the airfield, even in the dark of the early night.
A cool breeze blew in from over the eastern glaciers, suddenly chilling the lightly-dressed Leanna. When he saw Leanna suddenly shiver a bit, Prism feared that it was an omen of looming danger.
"Come, let's get inside my jet. You'll be warm in there." Goran said after placing his meaty fingers on Leanna's exposed right shoulder and pushing her slightly forward in the direction of the jet's retracted stairs.
"Th-thank you." Leanna said. Her strong facade slipped slightly as she too began to recognize how vulnerable she would be once she stepped onto that plane.
As Goran helped Leanna onto the plane, Prism did something that he hoped he wouldn't need to do; he scanned the surface of Goran's mind. Despite being unsynced from the physical world, Prism was still able to access and communicate with the minds of others. He needed to be especially cautious though, as too deep an intrusion could not just alert Goran to his presence, but also immediately resync Prism with the rest of reality.
When Prism read the immediate periphery of Goran's mind, Prism was shocked and disgusted by what he saw. Images of brutality and perversion swirled within Goran's head. Prism couldn't allow Goran to do the things that he intended to do to Leanna.
But Prism also needed to continue to be careful. Any plan to stop Goran would need to keep Prism hidden and able to rejoin Ursun and the others before Goran's plane left the Peninsula. Within seconds, Prism knew what to do.
"Do you like it? Just as nice as the exterior, I hope." Goran said smoothly to Leanna once he got her onto his plane with his two bodyguards. There were two more security guards already on the plane, which the Red Wolves already had knowledge of.
"Yes, it's quite nice." Leanna said quietly while looking around.
Golden, puffy padding was extensive throughout the interior of the plane. Even the seats had the gaudy yellowish padding. Several transparent cabinets full of expensive liquors hung on the walls throughout the cabin. The plane comfortably sat ten people, though it didn't look like it could from the outside.
"Have a seat and relax. My pilot is getting the engines started. We'll be out of here in a few minutes." Goran said to Leanna while he went over to retrieve a bottle of blue liquor from one of his cabinets.
"I can't wait to see Rvljse." Leanna said brightly before sitting down in one of the soft, comfortable seats.
When she sat down, three of the bodyguards took seats around her own. She mustered up as much optimism as she could, despite feeling a nearly overwhelming sense of dread. The fourth bodyguard did a quick sweep of the plane, checking the rear cabin, cockpit, and bathroom. Prism, still intangible and close to Leanna, took note of everyone's position on the plane.
"Yes, yes of course. You will love it, my dear." Goran said while pouring a glass of the blue liquor. "Now, drink this. It is an Rvljsan specialty." Goran said imploringly to Leanna.
Leanna took the glass from Goran and rocked the liquid around with a few tilts of her wrist for a moment. She watched how the liquid swirled around the glass, noting its uncharacteristic thickness and strange smell. She figured that it was a sedative. She also knew that Goran would force her to drink it if she refused. A small mercy that he was keeping up the pretense, she thought to herself.
Leanna tasted the liquid and noted its strange floral flavor. It was not at all what she expected, but she liked it. She picked up on hints of lavender and even honeysuckle. It was a strange drink, made even stranger by the medicinal notes that Leanna was sure was the sedative contained within it.
"How do you like it?" Goran said while creepily rubbing his hands together.
"It is...nice. Refreshing, even." Leanna said honestly.
"Then there's no reason not to drink the rest of it, then. In celebration of our soon-to-be completed business." Goran said while he poured himself a glass of an amber liquor.
"Cheers!" Leanna said after raising her glass to Goran.
"Cheers!" Goran said happily before knocking his glass against Leanna's. He downed his drink in one go while he watched her do the same.
Leanna quickly started to feel dizzy. The room seemed to spin around her. Her eyes became heavy, and her breathing slowed. She hoped that Prism could help her as she felt herself falling into her seat. She struggled to speak a few last words while she fought desperately to remain conscious.
"I'm falling...asleep..." She managed to say before her body became limp.
The glass she'd been holding dropped from her right hand and rolled a short distance on the carpeted floor of the cabin before it was picked up by Goran's roaming bodyguard.
"She's out. Wonderful! Pilot, take us out of here and to the coordinates you've been given." Goran said after he placed his ear on Leanna's chest to confirm that his sedative was working. "And please, don't disturb us until we get to our destination." Goran added in a sinister tone.
"Yes, sir. We're authorized to proceed to the runway. We should be off the ground in ten minutes." The pilot replied over the plane's intercom.
Prism knew that he needed to act fast, so he quickly floated into the bathroom. After checking that there were no motion sensors or cameras within the small room, Prism resynced himself back to his normal, solid self. He carefully squatted onto the floor of the bathroom, making no sound whatsoever. He also closed his eyes to hide their light from shining beneath the bathroom door. Prism slowly began to move his hands as he cast a spell to counteract the drink's effect on Leanna. He included a mental message within the spell for her, which also connected his mind to her own.
"Pretend to be asleep for the rest of the flight. I will keep you safe from Goran and his men."
The spell had its intended effect in a matter of seconds, and Leanna did as the voice that rang in her head suggested. A feeling of warmth radiated through her mind, which served to soothe and relax her despite her still being in a dangerous situation.
Prism knew that he'd eventually need to be frank about his telepathic magic with his team. There was no better time than during that mission. But his work on the plane wasn't over.
He closed his eyes and expanded his vision to include the cabin where the others sat. He saw Goran begin to reach for Leanna's chest. Wanting to avoid the worst outcome, Prism quickly cast a spell to make Goran increasingly sleepy. Prism hoped that the selfish, lecherous mind that he had peeked in on earlier would ironically safeguard Leanna during their flight. Fortunately for Prism, he was right.
"Phew, I guess the events of the day wore me out more than I expected." Goran said when he became overcome by a feeling of exhaustion. "I'm taking a nap. None of you touch her before I have her." Goran said sternly to his bodyguards, who simply nodded their understanding of his depraved order.
Goran plopped down in the seat directly beside Leanna's and fell fast asleep. Prism sighed quietly at his handiwork, but knew that he couldn't rest on his laurels. He waved his left hand over his face, triggering his unsyncing magics once again. He became invisible and floated slightly above the floor, just as he'd been most of that afternoon. He floated through the walls into the cabin to check on Leanna one last time before he floated through the floor of the plane and onto the tarmac.
Prism could make out Jaik riding in the electric cart towards an indistinctive hangar over fifty meters away. Prism floated hurriedly to catch up with the cart, and waited for it to enter the hangar before resyncing himself in front of Jaik. The hangar was half-lit, but Prism could see that the Titian was contained within. The tilt-jet's rear-hatch was open, but Prism couldn't see anyone within the ship's darkened cargo bay. The Titian simply sat silently on its three landing tires as Jaik got out of his cart.
"Ah!" Jaik jumped back and yelled when Prism suddenly appeared in front of him.
Before Prism could say anything, he sensed three people behind him. As he slowly turned his head around to look, he saw several PAWs being raised and aimed at him. Lorias, Srell, and Ursun slowly approached from the shadows of the aircraft hangar, each of them wearing plainclothes like Jaik. When Ursun made eye contact with Prism, Ursun shook his head in irritation and lowered his weapon.
"At ease, it's just Prism." Ursun said just loud enough for everyone in his immediate vicinity to hear.
"Sorry! I should've warned you guys before I resynced." Prism shouted.
Jaik gave Prism a light punch on the shoulder before smiling wide at him. Prism was yet again surprised at how convincing Jaik's disguise was as he looked at him face-to-face. Jaik looked much older, and the shape of his face and lips were different. Fortunately, the cosmetic effect was temporary and dissolvable in soap and water.
"It's fine, buddy. It's not like you could've communicated with us while you were unsynced." Jaik said matter-of-factly.
"Well, err, I should probably tell you guys something that I've been keeping to myself. Sorry, I just didn't want you Red Wolves to have another reason to distrust me..." Prism started to say, being as coy as he could.
"Out with it." Ursun said angrily.
Prism cleared his throat and turned around to address Ursun, Lorias, and Srell, who all stared at him apprehensively. Prism looked at them all guiltily, knowing that it was the worst time to be giving them controversial yet mission-relevant information.
"I can communicate by connecting my mind with others, even while unsynced." Prism said while his eyes darted nervously between his teammates.
"Telepathy?" Jaik said with a ponderous expression.
"Yes...that's what many I've encountered call it." Prism said meekly.
"What you're really admitting to is that you can read minds, including our own." Lorias said after rolling his eyes and flipping his hair back dramatically. Srell cursed under his breath and crossed his arms, as well.
“I don’t read people’s minds without their permission, unless they’re enemies who are a threat to my life and the lives of my friends. I know that it’s an intrusion on people’s privacy, plus it’s dangerous to me too if I peer too deeply, so…” Prism frantically began to explain himself.
Ursun bowed his head and smirked. He and the other commanders had discussed the possibility, but had no proof that Prism could read their minds. It became even clearer to Ursun that Prism was still hiding a great deal from the Red Wolves.
"We'll discuss that later. For now, let's add that tool to Prism's known arsenal." Ursun said to the other Red Wolves while looking at Jaik, Lorias, and Srell. "I'm assuming that you can link all of our minds together so that we can communicate non-verbally?" Ursun asked Prism.
"Yes, across vast distances." Prism said. He began to perk up when he saw how pragmatic Ursun was being in response to his admission.
"Good, very good. Then let's do that now. We need to get the hang of it before we continue with the second part of the mission." Ursun said to Prism.
"Sir, I'm back because Goran's plane is leaving in a matter of minutes." Jaik said abruptly, not wanting his commander to get too sidetracked.
"That plane can't leave until I give the go ahead to Security. We have a few minutes." Ursun said to Jaik. "Now, show us how to use your "telepathy," Prism." Ursun said sternly to his team’s contractor.
"Right, of course." Prism nodded energetically.
Prism brought both of his hand up to his head and laid the tips of his fingers on his forehead. He slowly closed his eyes as they began to glow with blue light. His fingertips and the center of his forehead glowed blue as well. Prism then brought his head back until his chin was pointing towards the ceiling.
With a burst of bluish light from his head, Lorias, Srell, Ursun, and Jaik began to feel an odd tingling in their heads. Each of their eyes began to glow blue for a few seconds as the tingling sensation dulled into a comforting warmth that radiated from the center of their brains to the surface of their scalps. Each of the men brought their hands up to their temples and scalps to feel if their heads were actually warmer while the sensation faded.
"It's done." Prism's voice echoed in the minds of the other teammates of RED-1, including Leanna's.
Prism privately urged her to remain calm and to keep her eyes closed while the plane she was on continued to roll onto the runway. He also relayed what had happened to her to the others through a series of images. It was disorienting to the mercenaries, but they understood what Prism was communicating to them. They were both alarmed by what had almost happened to Leanna, but also grateful that Prism had been there to protect her.
"Weird, I can hear you in my head! And these pictures! So much information!" Jaik yelled excitedly while Ursun, Lorias, and Srell looked confusedly at each other. The experience nearly overwhelmed their senses.
"Try to limit your communication to our telepathic link. Don't speak aloud right now." Prism's voice echoed in the minds of his team, communicating the urgency of their mission by relaying his feelings of worry and concern for Leanna's situation.
"So, we can share not only words, but feelings and visual information too. This is powerful." Ursun's voice traveled to the minds of his team. His voice sounded distant and distorted, a consequence of his inexperience using telepathy.
"I feel like I'm going to throw up..." Srell's voice and sense of nausea was relayed to his team. Prism did his best to mitigate the sickened feelings, not wanting it to overpower the team and cause everyone to vomit.
"The magic you used...I assume that it is now a part of us?" Lorias said, always quick to understand.
"That's right. This link between us will persist for as long as any of you want it to." Prism calmly communicated across the telepathic link. "It will take time for you all to learn not to share feelings in addition to words and images, so I will do my best to manage such things for now." Prism added.
"This will be our primary communication for the duration of the mission. It is private and versatile." Ursun's voice blared over the shared link. He was getting the hang of it quite quickly, Prism thought privately to himself.
"Just stay out of our private thoughts." Srell's voice echoed insecurely to his team, but came especially loudly to Prism.
"Don't worry; we can only hear what you intentionally send over the link. Your private thoughts are still your own." Prism's telepathic voice was warm and sincere.
"I can confirm that." Lorias' voice was confident over the link.
"Alright, let's get both of our birds into the sky." Ursun's voice blared over the link.
Ursun walked around to the back of the Titian up its lowered ramp and into its transport bay. Srell, Lorias, Jaik, and Prism followed him aboard the ship. Once aboard, Ursun told the pilot to authorize Goran's ship to take-off via laser messaging to Red Wolves Security. After confirming that Goran's plane was airborne, Ursun then ordered the Titian's pilot to start the engines and get them near the runway. From there, the tiltjet could lift off vertically without the need of the actual runway.
Prism had explained to Ursun before their mission prep that he could only safely unsync an aircraft that was already flying. Prism wasn't sure if lift could be achieved by an aircraft that was unsynced, since it technically wasn't a physical, solid object anymore. Prism was sure that an unsynced aircraft's controls would still work once the aircraft was in flight, as that was a scenario that he had experienced during his travels. Ursun had factored in those knowns and unknowns into their mission, and had planned accordingly.
Once the Titian's jet engines had gotten them into the air above Wolf City, Prism got to work. He'd already placed a few spell circles on the hull of the ship that morning, so all that was necessary was for him to activate them. Prism stretched his arms out to his sides and began to wave them rhythmically around himself, gathering mana from the sky surrounding the tiltjet.
"Look at him go." Jaik said aloud with a smile.
Prism funneled that mana into the spell circles, which would ordinarily cause them to glow with bluish light. But Prism knew that those lights could be seen from Goran's plane, and that could alert Goran's people to RED-1's presence. Instead, Prism caused a cover of clouds to slowly gather around the Titian before the magical energy flowed into his spell circles. The circles did not need much mana to be activated, so their light never grew bright enough to pierce the clouds around them.
Once he knew that his circles were ready, Prism stopped moving his arms. With his hands still outstretched to both sides of himself, Prism brought them together with a loud CLAP. The Titian began to fade away, as did everything contained within it. Soon, everyone aboard the tiltjet was unsynced and invisible. But to each other, the jet and its other inhabitants were merely translucent.
"This is crazy!" Srell shouted as he and his teammates looked down at the floor of the ship's bay that he stood within.
The lights of Wolf City could barely be seen beneath their feet. It was as though they were looking through bluish, frosted glass. The Titian's windows were still transparent however, though they also had an eerie blue tint to them. Even stranger to the mercenaries was how they looked to each other. Each of them looked like blue ghosts, having the same bluish-tint as the rest of the ship. Their feet touched the bay's floor, which seemed to conflict with what Prism had told them.
"Unsynced things can touch each other just like normal matter can. That's why we aren't floating around within the bay." Prism's voice echoed through their telepathic link. He felt his nearby teammates' confusion begin to fade away.
"Tell the pilots to begin pursuing Goran's ship." Ursun ordered to Prism over their link.
"They can hear you when you talk, sir. We are all unsynced, even the air in here, so sound will carry within the ship." Prism said aloud to Ursun, reminding him of a fact that Prism had shared earlier that morning.
Ursun nodded to Prism, remembering their earlier conversation once Prism started speaking. Ursun walked to the other end of the bay to the door that led to the cockpit. He touched the door's metal handle, half-expecting for his hand to pass right through it.
He ran his hand along the metallic handle, and a few of the locking mechanisms along the door's frame. His hand felt slightly numb, as if it was barely registering the sensations on his fingertips. And the sounds that would normally be made by rubbing the metallic surfaces were dampened, too.
Ursun shook his head, dismissed the oddity of it all, and proceeded into the cockpit after opening the door before him. He saw that his pilot and co-pilot were both marveling at their gauges, discussing how impossible their situation seemed.
"Begin pursuit of Goran's ship. Let me know if you have any trouble with the Titian." Ursun ordered aloud to them.
"Yes, sir. Beginning pursuit," the pilot said.
After a few minutes of acclimatizing to the strange new way that the Titian handled in flight, the pilot was able to reach Goran's ship without any issue. The Titian stayed within seventy meters of the other ship for the duration of their flight. There was no turbulence or drag for their ethereal tiltjet, making it the smoothest flight possible.
Prism sat silently on the floor of the cargo bay with his eyes closed, peering into the cabin of Goran's ship with his expanded magical perception. He kept his eyes on Goran, who slept peacefully, and Goran's guards, who sat silently. The bodyguards obediently left the seemingly-sleeping Leanna alone during their flight to the unknown island within Vadam's territory, much to RED-1's relief.